'Peter and the Starcatcher' is aimed more for an adult audience, or at least, the kid in every adult.

Jay PateakosSpecial to the Herald News

Many of us have never grown up. Now that I have children, I re-live my youth on a daily basis.

'80s action movies. Check.

“Tom and Jerry” classic cartoons. Check.

“Three Stooges” episodes. Check.

In a way, we’re all a little like Peter Pan. Or want to be. Those people that just want to remain adults are simply lying. But it’s Peter’s character and his inability to ever grow up, that has propelled that character in surviving the test of time. How nice would it be to remain a kid forever? Mortgage? Job search? Marriage? Nada. How can we get a little of that youth back in our lives?

With “Peter and the Starcatcher,” at the Providence Performing Arts Center through March 2, you find the answer to what many of us always wondered about — How did Peter Pan become The Boy Who Never Grew Up?

Based on a 2006 novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, “Peter and the Starcatcher” the musical first premiered on Feb. 13, 2009. Soon making its way to Broadway, the musical won five Tony Awards — the most of any play in the 2011-2012 Theatrical season. “Peter and the Starcatcher” serves as the adult prequel to J.M. Barrie’s original tale “Peter and Wendy.”

Most people don’t know that the Peter Pan character first originated in play form, written in 1904, based on a group of friends of author Barrie. He would eventually take that play and make it into a novel that would spawn the characters we all know and love today.

In “Peter and the Starcatcher,” you find characters before they were, well, characters. Peter is orphaned and does not have a name at all. Joined by two of his friends on a pirate ship, he is eventually given the name “Pirate Pete” and later Peter Pan. His adversary, Black Stache, after an unfortunate incident with a treasure chest will later go on to be known as Captain Hook. But Stache, played by veteran actor John Saunders, who performed the same role on Broadway, is nothing like what Hook would become. He is funny as hell and far less serious then the future, sadistic and vengeful Hook, even after losing his hand (nope, we never get to see a hook).

But while the original “Peter Pan” was for kids and grown-ups alike, “Peter and the Starcatcher” is aimed more for an adult audience, or at least, the kid in every adult. There are no flying scenes, but the vocabulary is more for those that understand it. With lines like “Sentimentality is not on the menu,” “You made your bed, Pan,” and “It’s lump it or leave it,” kids may struggle to get the point. But adults who want to be kids again, they get it.

Unlike other PPAC plays, “Starcatcher”s sets, while elaborately done, leave a lot to the imagination. On purpose. And what else would you expect from a Peter Pan story than one where your imagination must take you where you want to go?

With a dozen actors pitching in on more than 100 roles — one particular scene where they are all dressed as mermaids is to die for — “Peter and the Starcatcher” will make you remember why you liked being a kid. And why you’d like to be one still.